NRS-16451 | Special Train Notices

Full description

Special Train Notices were issued by the Chief Traffic Manager to inform station masters, guards, drivers and all other necessary staff members about additions and alterations to existing working and public timetables or other standing instructions. The notices contain details of changed timetable arrangements caused by special trains for royal visits, holidays, celebrations, sporting and other special events; altered running of regular services; and other railway activities such as movement of rolling stock and locomotives, trialling new rolling stock, railway works or maintenance of tracks or other infrastructure. Typical Special Train Notices set out the temporary timetable and provide details of ticketing and any necessary information about the precise route the train will take.

Some Royal Train Notices, Local Special Train Notices, Weekly Speed Notices and Handbills are included and there are a small number of Traffic Branch circulars.

The earliest notices are pasted into re-used registers, thereafter most are pasted into guard books but some remain loose and were tied into bundles.

Note regarding Special Train Notices and Weekly Special Train Notices:

The Notices in the latter series usually contains details of all special arrangements for the week, while this current series usually has a separate circular for each event.

Custody History

From 1955 until 2000 the State Rail Authority of New South Wales maintained an ‘in house archives’ consisting of the archival records of the Authority, its predecessor agencies and the private railway companies taken over by the government. The date ranges of the records were from 1849 until 2000. When the decision was made to close the ‘State Rail Archives’ the parts of the collection that were required as State archives were transferred to the State Records Authority of NSW. Those record series were incorporated into the State Records series system of archives control and were re-numbered.
This series was formerly part of the State Rail Archives collection where it was identified as series R146. It may have been viewed in the State Rail Archives as series R146 and could have been previously cited as such in notes by researchers at State Rail Archives or in publications or unpublished works.